Review: VASST's AVCHD Training feat. Douglas Spotted Eagle

EventDV by David McKnight

I've recently had the opportunity to review two of the latest training DVDs from VASST.com, a company known for creating DVDs, books, and software utilities that cover a wide variety of video-related topics. In this review I'll look at AVCHD Training, a DVD that carries the following tagline: "Learn the ins and outs of AVCHD and how it affects you." This disc is shot in 16:9 with a running time of 78 minutes. It covers the benefits, challenges-both software- and hardware-related-involved in using AVCHD (Advanced Video Codec High Definition) and provides useful workflows and workarounds with AVCHD. It's an incredibly deep reference on the current state of this popular new format. Your host is the well-known Douglas Spotted Eagle (aka Spot); imagine if you ran into Spot at a coffee shop, pulled up a chair, and asked, "Tell me everything there is to know about AVCHD!" That's pretty close to what you get with this DVD.

AVCHD Training goes into detail on the capabilities of current mainstream AVCHD camcorders, workflows for AVCHD projects-regardless of your editing software-and, finally, delivery mechanisms. The disc is not specific to any one model of camera, nor is it weighted toward any one NLE. While I personally might like to know more about AVCHD and Vegas (and know that Spot would be the man to teach it), that is not the purpose of this DVD. I did learn things related to Vegas; I also learned things with respect to Avid, Final Cut Pro, Premiere Pro, and EDIUS.

If you're thinking of buying a camera that uses the AVCHD format, this is a great resource to have. You will want to watch this before you buy so that you know how best to build out your HD system of camera, computer hardware, and NLE. If you've already bought an AVCHD camera, knowing more about the AVCHD technology will help you to understand and to get the most out of what you have. read more...